Thinking to the future as Lucire turns 15

21.10.2012/09.54

I’ve written so many editorials about Lucire’s history for our various anniversaries that now we’ve turned 15, I feel like I’d just be going over old ground. Again. I’d do it maybe for the 20th or 21st, but the story has been told online and in print many times. But 15 is a bit […]

The fall of Facebook advertising and the rise of something else

14.07.2012/12.50

I remember when Michael Wolff was very bullish about the internet in the 1990s, so when he starts sounding warning bells, we had better take heed. The way Michael paints Facebook—and a belief that its advertising model will eventually collapse for being so limited—is not unfamiliar to anyone who ever wondered, during the dot-com […]

Global experience trumps education—Anna Tavis, Brown Brothers Harriman

05.07.2012/08.21

Every now and then, the Harvard Business Review comes up with some gems. This video, from Anna Tavis, head of talent and development at Brown Brothers Harriman, says that global experience is more important than education if you wish to be successful in business. She also hints at the importance of differentiation, which I […]

In the MG world, the Chinese understand Britishness better

20.06.2012/08.39

Take a car range that’s not selling too well, and try to pull the patriotic heart-strings to see if you can move a few. Trouble is, this ad for the MG 6 Magnette, which is running on some of our sites, is pretty awful. It’s not convincing, for starters. Brand Germany has its […]

A farewell to Sir Paul Callaghan, and the next step for our innovators

24.03.2012/05.03

When I attended Sir Paul Callaghan’s talk at the Wellington Town Hall last September, I felt vindicated. Here was a man who was much better qualiﬁed than me to talk about economic development, effectively endorsing the policies I ran on in 2010. But not being political, he was a great deal more persuasive. Since then, […]

Russian mass media believe it’s the Putin right that counts

06.03.2012/10.54

World Economic Forum, licensed under Creative Commons Vladimir Putin has won the ﬁrst round in the presidential elections in Russia by such a margin that he won’t need to face rivals for a second-round run-off. But the one place where he scored less than half of the vote was in Moskva, the most educated and […]

Stefan Engeseth’s next book, Sharkonomics: in business, what can we learn from sharks and their survival?

22.02.2012/23.04

When I talked about Nicholas Ind’s book, Meaning at Work, a few weeks ago, I said there were two titles that I wanted to mention. The second is by my friend Stefan Engeseth, who has followed up some very innovative titles—Detective Marketing, One and The Fall of PR and the Rise of Advertising—with Sharkonomics. […]

Less Tumblring, less Facebooking—are email and blogging back?

03.01.2012/12.41

I’ve been noticing my Tumblr usage drop, and judging by the count here, my updates to this blog have fallen to a bit of a low this year. But, as Tumblr drops, this blog seems to be rising. I imagine 2012 will bring with it another change in how we all share our thoughts online. […]

Finishing off 2011 with the most fun radio interview I have ever done

31.12.2011/09.29

Photo by Xavier Collin/Snapstar Live Friday morning’s interview with Sonia Sly on Kiwi Summer was the most fun I have ever had on radio. Radio New Zealand National was the most fair and balanced medium I dealt with when running for Mayor of Wellington in 2010, and I was glad that Sonia thought of […]

Using Super Start on Firefox, after I got pop-ups while using Speed Dial

20.12.2011/04.09

PS.: I got two pop-ups today (December 21) of the same nature, this time while using Facebook. I think we can rule out Speed Dial as the reason.—JY For the Firefox bofﬁns out there, I began using Super Start, after having trialled Speed Dial and Fast Dial over the past year or so. These […]